The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 10. The Kid Makes His Case

[FBI Investigator Raymond] Gere states his biggest regret was his inability to solve the 1935 Lorius and Heberer murder mystery. He suggested that amateur sleuths should look for human bones along U.S. 60 in western New Mexico. He stated the case "has consumed 30 FBI volumes, seven years of my time as an agent, and countless pages of newspaper and magazine type."

"There have been hundreds of theories about what happened and where it happened to George and Laura Lorius, and Albert and Tillie Heberer," Gere told the Chieftain. "I am convinced they were murdered and their bodies were hidden within 25 miles west of Quemado, along U.S. 60."

~Paul Hardin, El Defensor Chieftain, 6/7/08

*****

The Pintada Kid continues the story of his investigation into the Heberer Lorius case, in his own words. For a list of the entire series, click on the Pintada Kid on the Case tab at the top of the page.

 Over 25 years ago, when I felt sure I could solve the Heberer Lorius case, I tried to talk to Larry Barker (a local TV reporter) and others in the Media and even emailed everybody who was anybody.  I tried to get the morning programs to listen to my story but no one was interested or wanted to even reply to me. I always wondered why these people in the media didn't at least call me and question me as to why I felt that I could solve the Heberer Lorius case when no one else could.


I had that Lt. Rhoades [New Mexico State Police Investigator Norman Rhoades] call me and we talked on the phone and emailed each other. He even told me that I had a good chance of solving the case. Then he ceased contact and even said to the Albuquerque Journal I didn't want to speak to him and the Heberer Lorius relatives, just because when he unexpectedly showed up I was supposed to know he was there [and I didn't]. 


All I can say is I did my homework and went overboard finding evidence and the exact area where the bodies will be found, plus I have my Original story and not a Dream* like one of the Heberer Lorius relatives claims to have had about her sister being buried under concrete or whatever. What about the lady who supposedly saw one of the victims murdered--what became of that story? 


There are some old men who think that [the tourists] are buried somewhere near Albuquerque, but that area was combed over thousands of times. Some of these people want to find the bodies in their area because that would be great for bringing in tourists, but their stories are very weak.



The reason I'm the logical one to solve this great mystery is because I know all that land in the center of New Mexico, and I have walked and ridden horses all over in the area where the Heberer Lorius people will be found.  Plus I just happened to have a brother-in-law who knew lots about the case and he's the one that should have solved it but didn't, because there were no bodies to be found. 


It's a great feeling to know you can solve the Heberer Lorius case, especially when at one time I thought it would be impossible to find some skeletons in a cave. But then, when I found the two key pieces of evidence, I knew I was right about the area.


Today I'm just waiting for the Media and the right people in Law Enforcement to go with me so I can prove this case can be solved--that is, if I can trust the people who go in with me.

The Thrill of knowing that a Great Mystery, rivaling those of the Lindbergh Baby and Amelia Earhart, could be solved, slowly faded away as I saw the years pass. I finally came to realize that When a Latino commits a crime or is wearing handcuffs the Media jumps at the chance at giving them coverage forever, but if they have something to contribute of interest to mankind they are ignored and not allowed to tell their story.

There is one last thing I want to say about the Heberer Lorius case. It is this: Out there in the center of New Mexico, you can see Sheepherder writings carved on rocks. When the sheepherders were out there herding sheep and living in tents in the 1930s, the rocks they wrote on showed old model Ts and Airplanes and lots of brands and other markings. These Sheepherder writings are just a few miles from where the Heberer Lorius people will be found, and they are more evidence that the sheepherders wrote about the Heberer Lorius people in their own way. The area where the writings are has lots of snake dens around it and the writings are under an overhang and are in very good condition.


As a little kid living in a Rock Mud house with dirt floors and oil lamps with my two sisters and both parents, my bed was situated under a magazine picture of a Snickers bar cut in half with the Caramel showing. Back then they used newspapers and pictures out of magazines [for decoration].  This picture would drive me crazy because candy was a very Rare treat, and was not seen for months, if ever. Sometimes the only thing we had to eat was maybe a Deer, which was rare; or Jackrabbits and sometimes Rattlesnakes and Porcupines, which were very plentiful. Of course, Rabbit meat bathed in Red chile was always a real Delicacy with a tortilla.



I remember when I was around 3 or 4 years old and food was scarce, we killed a horse for food. I don't remember too much about my dad, just that he hunted for food and sometimes I would follow him. He played guitar and violin, and my mom played guitar, and they both sang. My mom died in a Bad Head-on Crash, so my parents were gone by the time I was 9 years old. I ended up with their Guitar and Violin. The Guitar has Disintegrated by now, but it helped me as a kid to have something to do and I forced myself to learn to play since age 5.


Who would have guessed that someday this kid whose toys were insects and spiders out in the mountains would end up Solving the Heberer Lorius case 1935 with or without the help of Law Enforcement and Media.

~El Pintada Kid

*****

* On May 22, before she knew anything was amiss on her sister's vacation, Laura Lorius' sister woke up with a fright in Illinois and told her husband that her sister had come to her in a dream and said, "I've been murdered and buried under the floor of an old building. You'll have trouble finding me."

~Leslie Linthicum, Albuquerque Journal, 6/24/10

The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 9. Cover Ups, A Tattooed Man, and More Rattlesnakes

A gas station owner in Quemado recognized the photograph of the four missing vacationers and identified his hand writing on the gas receipt. He was also able to recall the make and model of the car precisely.


Gere then compared the odometer readings from the car found in Dallas to the mileage recorded on the receipt at Quemado. Less than 50 miles were unaccounted for, thus leading the FBI to conclude the car was turned around within 25 miles west of Quemado. A massive search of the roads, canyons and arroyos around Quemado turned up nothing.

~Paul Hardin, El Defensor Chieftain, 6/7/08

"... it would be hard to find a good place to bury anyone in those rocky grasslands."

The Pintada Kid continues the story of his investigation into the Heberer Lorius case, in his own words. For a list of the entire series, click on the Pintada Kid on the Case tab at the top of the page.

During the years I worked on the Heberer Lorius case, I talked to all kinds of Old Timers who had heard about it.  Some of them had their own ideas about what had happened to those people.  I learned lots of history from the old folks.

However, I believe that the case was probably never solved because of the competition between the FBI and the New Mexico State Police, and because they withheld evidence from each other.

I also feel there was a big Cover up on the case, not only by Law Enforcement, but also on the part of the people who didn't want their relatives to go to jail for the crime. There were also people who were friends with the killers who didn't want them to get caught.

A 90-year old man who died a year or two ago told me he thought the [missing tourists] were buried out towards Roswell.  I disagreed with him at the time, because I had ridden horseback as a kid in lots of those areas and it would be hard to find a good place to bury anyone in those rocky grasslands. Sure, there are sinkholes, but it's too easy a place to search.

I did ask this man if he knew of a tattooed man in the area at the time of the crime and he said there was one guy that they used to call Ding Dong Bob. The Albuquerque Journal talks about a tattooed man with offset ears, who was thought to have been seen driving the Heberer Lorius car. I suspect that this was Ding Dong Bob.

When I was younger, I would hear about the Media coming down and recording interviews with a couple of Old Timers in the area about the Case.  I wasn't interested at the time and I didn't know or care about the mystery of these people getting murdered and buried, supposedly at some business place in Vaughn. Year after year the Media came and interviewed the same old people; not realizing that these very people were friends of those who had plotted the killings. I'm sure that they probably knew more about the Heberer Lorius case than what they told the Media. 


Even my brother-in-law was probably friends with the killer, although he didn't say so. Almost everyone liked him; he was always joking and telling stories about his State Police days.  Years after he retired he was still going out into the back country on crutches--he loved being out in the mountains. He used to tell how he had investigated a case on top of a mountain called Tecolote Peak.  A plane had crashed there years ago, he would say, "and when we got to the top there were people scattered over the side of that mountain but there was no blood." It turned out to be a Plane loaded with Cadavers that had crashed.  He had all kinds of stories.

I was a Pallbearer for my brother-in-law's funeral over 20 years ago and after his death I think I heard they took his coffin out from where he was buried and moved him somewhere else.

The Heberer Lorius case, which rivaled those of Amelia Earhart and the Lindbergh Baby, could probably have been solved a few days after the people first disappeared. However, the investigators were thrown off track by the killers and accomplices, with [contradictory] evidence and false stories. In this way the search was led to an area where there weren't any bodies. By the time the right area was searched, all traces of evidence were gone.


I don't think that the searchers thought about looking in all those Mountainous Mesas, littered with rocks, caves, and house-sized boulders. In these places there were lots of Rattlesnake dens and Giant Rattlesnakes that the Old People called Vivorones. The old people claimed that these big snakes could swallow a goat. In the Land of the Longwalk in Pintada Canyon the Indians drew pictures, which can still be seen today, of these big Rattlesnakes. 


An old friend who is interested in me solving the Heberer Lorius case, and who knows the area and history and the people well, said to me, "You are probably the only one who can go into that area where the bodies are. No one else wants to go in there because of the Rattlesnakes." I guess in a way he was right but I'm not too crazy about getting bitten. I've heard that the Anti Venom for a Snake bite is about 20 thousand dollars not including all the other medical expenses.


Back in 1935 there were lots more Giant Rattlers than there are now.  If you ever heard a Big Rattlesnake sound off SHEEESSSSSSSSSSS you will understand how chilling the Big Rattlesnakes can sound. You Freeze in Your Tracks because the sound of those rattlers is loud and you don't know if it's one Rattlesnake or a dozen.  You sometimes have to wait for the rattler to move before you can see it.

~El Pintada Kid


Tomorrow: The series concludes

The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 8, Family Ties

A scene in the center of New Mexico. Perhaps the missing tourists passed this way?

The case was given to the Albuquerque Field Office with Detective Albert Raymond Gere placed in charge... It was one of the first major abduction cases given to the FBI since the Lindberg Act went into effect.

Gere immediately went to work. His first task was carefully checking George Lorius' car in Dallas for clues.

There was no evidence of violence, such as blood or signs of a struggle. He did find receipts and odometer readings that George Lorius kept during the trip. Gas receipts were found from St. Louis to Vaughn, then Socorro, with the last receipt dated May 23 at an unknown location. The last positive location of the party was a service station in Socorro. Where did they go from Socorro?

~Paul Hardin, El Defensor Chieftain, 6/7/08

*****

The Pintada Kid continues the story of his investigation into the Heberer Lorius case, in his own words. For a list of the entire series, click on the Pintada Kid on the Case tab at the top of the page.

There are all kinds of stories about what could have happened to the Heberer Lorius people, including being buried under a hotel in Vaughn, somewhere near Albuquerque, or south of there. I think they even checked into a motel in Albuquerque which is the area that was searched more because of the discovery of a Suitcase with their things half burned in the mountains east of Albuquerque. There were all kinds of people searching, including hundreds of Indians that could track anything that moved, according to what I read. 

Even the Governor of New Mexico got involved in the search because it would affect the tourists going through New Mexico.  I think that reward of 1000 dollars was offered to anyone who found the killers or the bodies. It took them a whole month to search the area north of Vaughn and by that time all trace of Evidence was gone. 


The Government passed a law [the Federal Kidnapping Law, also known as the Lindbergh Act] that The FBI could get involved in Kidnapping cases. The New Mexico State Police were just getting started at the time, and they were competing with the FBI to Solve the Heberer Lorius case. [I believe that they] withheld evidence from each other, and they ended up Bungling the case and not solving it, according to my Brother-In-Law. 

My Brother-in-Law could have solved the case because the Killer fell on his knees and begged him not to turn him in. He told my Brother-in-Law that [he and his companions] buried [the Heberer Lorius people] in a cave north of Vaughn. They never meant to kill them--just rob them of their Diamonds, Money and Travelers Checks; but they ended up killing them when the [victims heard the robbers] calling each other by their first names. 


My Brother-in-Law spent some time out there searching and going down ropes into caves that I knew about. However, [I believed that] he was searching in the wrong area by about 4 or 5 miles from where the bodies are actually going to be found. Since he couldn't find any bodies he couldn't solve the case. He knew [the murderers] and these men were his friends, even though he never told me that. 


My Brother-in-Law was a very intelligent man who knew most everybody in the State of New Mexico. When other New Mexico State Police came around him they would always salute him. While working under cover, he was stabbed in prison. 


He had all kinds of Memorable stories to tell out over the campfires in the Mountains, where our families would spend several days camping, picking piñon, playing guitar, and singing around the campfire. All my sisters-in-law were beautiful and very good singers, not to mention very good cooks. One even wrote a book about Mexican Cooking that contained lots of family recipes and for years they all would get a booth at the State Fair and make some good money selling Burritos, Enchiladas and all kinds of Delicious Mexican Cooking. 


The area of the Heberer Lorius people has lots of old graves all over the Landscape and most of them are almost erased by time. Back then, if you didn't get along with your neighbor, he would tell you, "Te voy a tirar al poso," a phrase used back then that meant "If you don't behave I'm going to throw you in the hole." 

Sometimes when I think of the Ghost I saw out there, trying to point to a Distant area which I've yet to search, I think maybe there are lots of other hidden bodies out in these mesas; people who disappeared without a trace. When they start looking for the Heberer Lorius people, if that ever happens, they will end up finding other bodies, which might be in good condition, depending on how well their Tombs were sealed. Even the Heberer Lorius people might be in Good Shape when found if their cave was well sealed. 

One of the favorite ways of getting rid of someone back then in the 1800s and early 1900s is they would conk you over the head and have your horse or burro drag you all over the country until someone found you and there was no way of finding out if you fell off your animal or were murdered. The Book, We Fed Them Cactus, kind of tells a little about the History of that area and the people in that book are probably related to me in some ways and are from the land of my people up in northern New Mexico. 

~El Pintada Kid 

The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 7. The Kid and the Police

Even today, 75 years after the Heberer Lorius tourists disappeared, the roads 
in New Mexico are long and often little traveled, 
the sky is big, and the land is empty.
(CZ photo, taken near Elephant Butte, NM)

By mid-June [of 1935], updates on the [Heberer Lorius] story were carried in newspapers across the country. It had become a national news story. This exposure was not good for New Mexico as motor-tourism virtually halted for peoples' fear of being killed "in the wilds of New Mexico." Attendance figures from Santa Fe to Carlsbad Caverns dramatically dropped. Newspapers reported the vacationers were killed near Vaughn, near Socorro, near Carlsbad, or near any other place they could think of, thus affecting the reputation of the entire state.


New Mexico Gov. Clyde Tingley offered a $1,000 reward for finding the bodies. He also ordered the National Guard to help the FBI search areas around Vaughn, Socorro and south along Elephant Butte Reservoir to find the bodies — and to save the state's image.

~Paul Hardin, El Defensor Chieftain, 6/7/08

*****

The Pintada Kid continues the story of his investigation into the Heberer Lorius case, in his own words. For a list of the entire series, click on the Pintada Kid on the Case tab at the top of the page.


Since the time my lady friend and I went into the area of the Heberer Lorius people four or five years ago, I haven't been back. I'm very sure with the proof and evidence that I have that this mystery could be solved, although I'm sure there would be lots of people who wouldn't want me to solve it. 

The ranchers aren't too crazy about people coming onto their land. Then there are the relatives of the killers or the ones who helped to hide the bodies. I'm sure it would smear their family names. The guy who plotted the killings and helped kill these people has a name that is one of the biggest in New Mexico. 

Because of the way the State Police Investigators have refused to work with me, I'm not sure I can trust them anymore. I might end up "accidentally" falling off a cliff and they might get the credit solving this Great Mystery. 

I used to talk on the phone and through emails about the case to the New Mexico State Police Investigator Lt. Norman Rhoades. He really thought at the time that I could probably solve the Heberer Lorius case and that was before I knew the exact area and had learned about the important evidence I have now. What puzzles me is why he ceased contact and never tried to hear me on the new evidence I found. He did tell the Albuquerque Journal that he had come to my place with the relatives of the Heberer Lorius people and that I wouldn't come out. But I clearly remember that day he was here in town talking to people with the Heberer Lorius relatives and a Friend of mine, who is interested in the case and wants to help me solve it, called me and asked if I knew that Rhoades was looking for me. I told him that my kids were visiting and no one had called or come over to the house. 

My kids and grand kids were all excited when I told them who might be coming over, but these people never showed up. I thought that was rude.


About a month ago, a friend told me that the Heberer Lorius relatives were in town and measuring some slabs of concrete. He told them if they wanted to solve the Heberer Lorius case, they should talk to the Pintada Kid. They told him they already had. But of course they hadn't.


Lt. Norman Rhoades and the Heberer Lorius relatives left some phone numbers with some people in town which I called in Mississippi.  I told them on the answering machine that I was the Man who could solve the Heberer Lorius case. I left them my phone number a couple of times, but they never returned my calls, so I gave up on them. I also gave up on Lt. Norman Rhoades, who could have called me a day ahead if he really wanted to see me. However,  I'm sure he doesn't really want to see me because of the underhanded way he has played me, along with the Albuquerque Journal, the Media of New Mexico, and the Whole U.S. Media. To me, they are all one, and if I was black or white this Great Mystery would have been solved over 25 years ago. 

~El Pintada Kid

Next week: The conclusion of the Kid's tale, with parts 8, 9, and 10

Breakfast Delayed, for Skywatch

Beez was looking into the kitchen the other morning to see how the homemade muffins were coming along. All he found was an empty room, a half-assembled batter, and a swinging screen door. Stepping out onto the porch, he saw me scampering down the road to get the best shot of this glorious sunrise. 

The differences are subtle, but here is the same scene, a moment later...

By the way, the muffins were delicious.  For skies from all times of the day and night, and from all over the world, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 6. The Lady Friend, the Snake, and the Owl

Image from NM State Police website

It was, by many accounts, the largest manhunt in New Mexico history. The decades-old front pages of the Albuquerque Journal tell the story of excited leads and mounting disappointment as a hot 1935 summer wore on. Every single State Police officer - all 27 of them at the time - along with 15 National Guardsmen, 20 members of the 111th Cavalry and 100-plus volunteering Albuquerqueans scoured the east mesas and Tijeras Canyon. A dragnet of vehicles and walkers six miles long combed the miles from Albuquerque to Willard. The search centered on Socorro. The search turned to Carrizozo. To San Marcial. To Gallup. To Quemado. To the Rio Puerco. To the Rio Grande. 


A high-profile case attracts lots of junior detectives: Someone reported blood on a bush. Another a bloodstained bedspread. A woman in Madrid remembered two men borrowing a shovel at 2 a.m. and thought that might have been suspicious.

Leslie Linthicum, Albuquerque Journal, 6/20/10

*****

The Pintada Kid continues the story of his investigation into the Heberer Lorius case, in his own words. For a list of the entire series, click on the Pintada Kid on the Case tab at the top of the page.

After finding that decomposed garage, I went back with a measuring tape. I measured the garage--it was 8 feet wide and 16 feet long; the height was over 6 feet. When I talked to the Nash Club of America people they said that model Nash was very famous because of the Heberer Lorius case.  The Nash was 6 feet wide and 15 feet long; and the height was 6 feet, according to a member who owned one of those cars. So the homemade garage I had found could have been made to fit the Nash.  

The next time I went into the area was with a lady friend of mine who is a Painter and wanted to see the area and she loved to walk which worried me a lot because of the Rattlesnakes out in that area and one of the times we got separated I took off in a Certain direction and there was a Marker with a Date on it and an arrow pointing in a certain direction but the date was from the 20s but on trying to line up the marked rock I discovered something more important.


Right there was in front of me a Rock with the Shape of a horse that was in the State Police report that I read many years ago in Santa Fe when I first started working on the case. Back then they one of the people they questioned was asked where the bodies were buried and he replied near this rock shaped like a horse. When asked where the bodies were in relation to that rock he replied DAM CLOSE. 


I was so happy to find this new evidence because I had thought it would be impossible to ever find this rock and here it was in front of me. I took pictures of the rock and went back to my pickup but my lady friend wasn't there and it was getting late so I drove my truck down the road and back and forth looking for her. Still no lady friend. By then I was starting to panic because it's easy to get lost out there or to get bitten by a Rattlesnake. I started honking in short low bursts on the horn, hoping the rancher and cattle didn't hear me. When I finally found her, I wasn't too happy with her taking off like that. Luckily the rancher didn't show up and tell me off. 


We went into the area where the Heberer Lorius people would be found and she was walking all over the place near the Cave Entrances. I told her not to walk in front of me, but to walk behind me. Just as I finished telling her that, I almost stepped on a Rattlesnake that was over 5-feet long. Although there was snow on the ground when we were out there that day, the ground and the rocks get so hot that the Rattlesnakes come out of Hibernation to lie where it's much warmer. 


I didn't want to take my eyes off the Rattlesnake for fear it might come at me so I told my lady friend behind me to hand me a rock so I could hit the big Rattlesnake over the Head with it. I reached back and she placed a pebble-sized rock in my hand--I asked her, Is that the biggest rock you could find?" 


The snake was trying to get away and back into its den so I just swatted it across the back of its head to keep it from going into its den. It turned on me and I Stuck my Ski pole/walking stick into its head and then placed its head with the ski pole stuck in it on top of another rock. I used another rock to cut its head off. 


My lady friend followed me with the Snake back to the Truck and I took pictures of her holding the snake while making an awful face. On the way back home it started to sprinkle and a Big Beautiful Double Rainbow appeared. I took a few pictures of her under the Double Rainbow and on driving back we had the windows open and a miniature owl* flew in the window of the truck. We had to stop and open the door to let it out again. 


~El Pintada Kid


Tomorrow: We take a break for Skywatch, then on Friday the Kid's tale continues.

*****

*Note: The owl in Mexican culture is a symbol of death.

The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 5, Ghostly Appearances

Clyde Tingley, Governor of New Mexico, 1935-1939

 The Lorius-Heberer case came well before "America's Most Wanted" and 24-hour cable coverage that drops us into the middle of creepy crimes all over the country. Back then, four tourists swept up in fatal foul play and a killer on the loose was so unusual that the state's governor, Clyde Tingley, decamped from his office in Santa Fe to a suite at the Franciscan Hotel in Albuquerque to head up the search. 

        
"They were guests of New Mexico; we intend to find their bodies and bring their killer to justice," he told United Press International. 

Leslie Linthicum, Albuquerque Journal, 6/20/10

*****

The Pintada Kid continues the story of his investigation into the Heberer Lorius case, in his own words. For a list of the entire series, click on the Pintada Kid on the Case tab at the top of the page.

Since I believed that I now knew the exact area where those kids had seen the skeletons many years ago, I asked permission from the rancher to go onto his land again. I invited a friend who had been asking me to show him the place, but he said his wife wouldn't let him go if he didn't take the kids with him. I told him to forget it and brought along another friend instead.

When we met the rancher at the gate, he unlocked it and told us to lock it back up on the way out. The Rancher told us to watch out for the Big Cats there at Las Cuevas (The Caves), as he called it. My friend, who I've known most of my life, is one of those who ventures out into the country once in a blue moon and hyperventilates when he's out there in the wonderful fresh air. His usual pastime is to watch football on TV all day. I call it Butts 'N Balls because that's all you see all day and it's from the fridge to the potty to the TV, 24/7 for some people.

We used 4 wheel drive to get up as close as we could, before walking the rest of the way in. I showed my friend how to mark our path with lines on the dirt every so many yards, pointing back to the truck, so we could find our way back out again.

We got to a place where a crevice was in the way, and it was too wide to jump. All we had to do was to go further up and cross over where it was narrower, but my friend decided to jump at the wide place. He almost didn't make it across. I could hear his fingernails scratching on the rocks as he tried to keep from falling down into the crevice, which was probably three or four stories deep. I had my VCR movie camera with me and had been taking pictures in the other direction. I told him, "Darn--why didn't you tell me you were gonna jump?" I tried to get him to jump back now that the camera was aimed at him, but he wouldn't do it.

When we got to the entrance of the caves, I told my friend to check out some of them, but he wouldn't get near them because of what the rancher had told him about the big cats. My friend said that he was going back to the truck and would wait for me there.  He took off along the bottom of the cliffs, while I followed slowly along looking for signs or evidence.

A little way down the trail I thought I saw my friend lying on a big rock, all relaxed with his hands behind his head. I yelled at him, "HEY, this is no time to be Sleeping!" He got up real slow and walked a little ways from the rock.  He looked like he was trying to point in a certain direction, but acted like his arm was too heavy to lift up.  I told him that I was not going all the way over there, and that he should come on up. I suddenly realized it wasn't my friend and my first thought was that someone else must have come in through the unlocked gate.

Then it hit me that it was a Ghost and that he was trying to point toward some small cliffs out in the distance, away from where the Heberer Lorius bodies were. For just a moment, I thought about taking a picture of the Ghost with my movie camera, but I knew he would disappear when I tried to get the camera going. I didn't want to take my eyes off him and when I moved a little bit the Ghost just disappeared.

When I finally got back to the truck, my friend was waiting there for me.  He told me he had a hard time finding the truck and I told him that I had seen a Ghost.

I said that I wanted to take some movies of the old houses and corrals close by and would be back in a bit. While I was taking pictures, I noticed what looked like a Chicken house that was constructed with some tree trunks and branches tied with together with wire. All of a sudden I saw an image flash inside those branches and tree trunks--it was of the 1929 Nash Sedan that the Heberer Lorius people had been driving before they disappeared [the car that later showed up in Dallas]. Although I only saw it flash for just a couple of seconds, I realized that this was where the Heberer Lorius car had once been hidden--in this hastily-made and now decomposing garage.

I was excited to find this piece of evidence. I wasn't sure about it at that point, but later confirmed with the Nash Car Club of America that this "garage" would fit the measurements of the 1929 Nash Sedan.

In the meantime, my Friend was beeping and beeping the truck's horn and I was worried that he was gonna call all the cattle and ranchers for miles around. While rushing and trying to get as much on my movie camera as I could, I ran into a Big Cholla Cactus and was angry that I had stickers stuck on my movie camera and on me. I was mad at my friend when I got to the truck and told him, "Here we are, trying to solve one of the Ten Greatest Unsolved Mysteries in the United States, and all you want to do is to go home to watch Butts 'N Balls!"

P.S. Needless to say, he knows that I won't ever invite him back there.  I would rather go alone--it's much more peaceful, and I can accomplish a lot more on my own.

~El Pintada Kid

The Kid in his beloved New Mexico back country

Tomorrow: A lady friend helps out

The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 4, Finding More Clues

On May 22, before she knew anything was amiss on her sister's vacation, Laura Lorius' sister woke up with a fright in Illinois and told her husband that her sister had come to her in a dream and said, "I've been murdered and buried under the floor of an old building. You'll have trouble finding me."

~Leslie Linthicum, Albuquerque Journal, 6/24/10

For those of you who have asked, the Pintada Kid is a real person. Because he is doing his typing on a sometimes unreliable battery-powered keyboard from somewhere in the center of New Mexico, he asks that I edit and publish his posts. I do that gladly, but remind you that this is his story, not mine.

*****

The Pintada Kid continues the story of his investigation into the Heberer Lorius case, in his own words. For a list of the entire series, click on the Pintada Kid on the Case tab at the top of the page.

Now that I knew the exact area [where the skeletons were located] more or less I decided to get permission from the rancher and go a few miles into his land where I was sure now I had been before. I went in alone in the middle of the summer and it was very hot and I managed to get as close to the top of the mountain as I could on my 4x4 and from there hiked around the top of the mesa with lots of trees and boulders everywhere. I was about to leave, thinking I had found the wrong area, but I decided to go over one last area I hadn't checked. I came to the cliffs and crevices that were 30 to 40 feet deep in places and lots of cedar trees and big boulders all around the area and cliffs that you don't want to get too close because the winds have a weird way of coming behind you and pushing you over.

Ok, so now I was sure I had the exact area and I started pretending I was a little kid playing on the rocks around these cliffs in this secluded wilderness full of big cats, rattlesnakes, deadly spiders, and other dangers. I came in from the top so I decided to go down into one big room that you could see into from a small opening at the top. After a few minutes of hugging boulders and carefully watching for my footing and rattlesnakes I made it to the bottom and there I had to rest, because my legs were so weak I could barely stand. I was wondering if I was gonna be able to get out and if there was another way out.


Anyway, after a few minutes of rest I was able to explore in that area and saw different openings and small crevices everywhere that I knew I would not fit into and even if I did they might be infested with rattlesnakes or the big cats, so I thought to myself I'm here to explore--not to find the bodies, just to learn the area so I can find it again and show the N.M. State Police where to look and leave it up to them.


One area I was going through was like a minature window rock and I was going to go through it, but decided to go around it instead. On getting to the other side, I realized that if I had moved any of the rocks at the bottom the whole thing would have collapsed and tons of rock would have buried me.


It was a weird feeling knowing that I had finally found the right place and on walking close to the cave
openings and walls it was like you could almost hear these people asking you to find them and
whispering to you. I now knew where the exact area was, according to my friends who had told me about the skeletons, so I knew I needed to have more proof.


By exploring around around the area, I found old adobe rock houses that appeared like ghosts from what seemed to be out of nowhere. All these old ruins had been baked in the sun for over 100 years and looked just like the landscape and rocks they were made of many years ago.  They are like part of the land and sometimes you have to just come up on them to [realize that they are there].  Some still have their roofs on and when you peek inside you can see the wild style these people lived in, with their horse stalls right next to their bedrooms, making them ready to ride at a moment's notice.


Whoever lived in these houses probably knew that the Heberer Lorius people were buried just a couple of hundred yards away and were very likely the ones that helped put them there.


~El Pintada Kid

*****

Tomorrow: Some ghostly appearances

The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 3, The Kid Talks Snakes

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Agent Norman Rhoades of the New Mexico State Police has not officially reopened the kidnapping/murder case because, as an unsolved homicide, it has never been officially closed. But Rhoades, a crime scene investigator, has taken the cold case on as his mission. Despite the passage of time, he's hard at work trying to locate the remains of four bodies, which are most likely desiccated bones today, and to identify a killer, who is most likely dead. 

~Leslie Linthicum, Albuquerque Journal, 6/24/10

The Pintada Kid continues the story of his investigation into the Heberer Lorius case, in his own words. For a list of the entire series, click on the Pintada Kid on the Case tab at the top of the page.

A few years before I learned about the exact area where the skeletons would be found, I was out exploring with friends and we decided to go into the area to walk up through an arroyo and search some caves. We found a place where there were lots of huge boulders with caves going under and around them, and one tunnel that went into the ground where you had to get on your knees to go through.

I volunteered to go in because no one else would and was a few feet into the tunnel when one of my friends yelled at me, "You're on top of a Rattlesnake!" I pointed the light under me and saw a dry stick there, and yelled back to those guys to quit fooling around. As I went on in through the tunnel, on my knees all the way, I could hear the other guys talking in different tunnels above me and to both sides. I was going deeper into the ground, then the tunnel turned and the walls moved like Jello.

On pointing the light closer to the wall I saw that it was covered with thousands or millions of Jelly-like spiders all bunched up on top of each other.  Then I pointed the light down and they were everywhere--I had them all over me. Needless to say, I decided to look for the nearest daylight and in my haste going down the tunnel ran face to face, eyeball to eyeball with a big Bat that was just hanging there from the tunnel ceiling. He was an inch or two from my face and appeared to be wondering what was going on. I managed to somehow go under the Bat and finally found an exit out of that place. 

I was about a mile or two off from the area where the bodies will be found, which is an even more dangerous place where the crevices are very narrow.  Some are 30 to 40 feet deep along the Cliffs and the Rattlesnakes are bigger, because no one goes in there. It's a very secluded area with Big Rattlesnakes and Big Cats.

A friend who went into that area with me tried to jump a wide crevice and almost didn't make it. On another trip, a friend who is a Painter wanted to see the caves.  We were walking close to the cave entrances when I told her to walk behind me and a few seconds later I almost stepped on a Rattlesnake that was over 5 feet long.  I used my ski pole walking stick to stab it through the head and cut its head off with a rock against another rock. It was around March and there was snow on the ground, but the big rocks get so hot out there in the resting ground of the Heberer Lorius people, that the Rattlesnakes come out to warm up in the winter. My lady friend got to take a picture holding the rattlesnake, without a head of course ... the rattlesnake... and on the way back I took a picture of her standing under a spectacular Double Rainbow. 

Just a few weeks ago they killed a 7-foot rattlesnake a few miles from where the Heberer Lorius skeletons will be found. The guy that killed the rattlesnake said it had 24 rattles on it and it was very hard to kill and that it would rise up off the ground two and three feet. I would imagine there are more and bigger rattlesnakes where the skeletons will be found because no one bothers the rattlesnakes there.

The Kid

Next Monday: The saga continues

A Lincoln County Sunset for Skywatch

Lincoln County, New Mexico, is a romantic place--that's the best way I can describe it. It's where we find the Hondo Valley, which calls to my heart in a peculiar way that I can't explain. It is also the site of the Lincoln County War, a true-life saga that starred such legendary figures as Billy the Kid, cattle rancher John Chisum, and Sheriffs William Brady and Pat Garrett. When we travel in this area I find myself picturing them all, riding their horses over the hills and through the valleys.

As we rode toward the Hondo Valley a couple of weeks ago, it was the sky that was the site of all the mystery and excitement. The sunset that evening burst forth with fire, explosion, and color. We had a long journey through the night to get home; so I hung out the car window with my little camera held high and snapped away and hoped for the best. (Click on the photos to enlarge them).

Prologue

Sundown; and the fiery colors begin to spread

For sky photos of every color, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday.

Coming tomorrow (because Auntie Bucksnort wanted to know): The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 3, The Kid Talks Snakes

The Pintada Kid on the Case: Part 2, Las Cuevas

Some think that the missing tourists stayed at the hotel in Vaughn, New Mexico before they disappeared

Two postcards among all that evidence convince Rhoades [Agent Norman Rhoades of the New Mexico State Police] that the couples left the little town of Vaughn, where they had spent the night at the Vaughn Hotel, early in the morning on May 22 and headed toward Albuquerque.

Leslie Linthicum, Albuquerque Journal, 6/24/10

The Pintada Kid continues the story of his investigation into the Heberer Lorius case, in his own words. For a list of the entire series, click on the Pintada Kid on the Case tab at the top of the page.

The Heberer Lorius people disappeared around the time the New Mexico State Police were getting started in New Mexico, according to my brother-in-law, who also said the FBI and the State Police were competing against each other and withholding evidence and so the case was bungled and no one solved it.

My brother-in-law knew everyone who was anyone in New Mexico and everyone knew him back in the 1950s into the 80s. I was a Pallbearer for his funeral. I was also a pallbearer for both the funerals of my friends who told me about the kids and the skeletons.

Before they died I asked my friends, who I hadn't seen in years, for better directions to where the skeletons were. I also asked them if they had heard of the Heberer Lorius case. They said they had heard of that great mystery and when I asked them if they thought the skeletons might be these people, they both agreed that there was a good chance the Heberer Lorius people were the skeletons.

My two friends, [a married couple], were very religious and loved treasure hunting and had all kinds of stories from all around the area. She told me about being in a certain Ghost Town years ago and how when she walked over a certain area she would get this eerie feeling and on digging into the ground there found a set of China a foot down. These people would lend me all kinds of Treasure Hunting Magazines in boxes to read about the True West. Some of those stories still stick in my mind today and they have inspired me even more with the love of the mountains and their mysteries. 

Her Husband was a very good Mechanic. He was working on an airplane and invited me to fly with him over an area where he said there was a big treasure hidden that some people had asked him to look into. From the Air and flying close to the ground there are adobe and rock ruins everywhere, especially along the rivers.  To me, the weirdest feeling in a small airplane is flying close to the ground and then having the ground go out from under you when you go over the end of a big Mesa or Canyon. 

We used to go out and sometimes camp out and test all different brands of Metal detectors to see which were better. My Preference was the White Classic 3; it was light and could detect down pretty good. The heavier models are the better ones but they wear you out after an hour or two.

I asked my friend for better directions to where the skeletons might be.  He said he had been to the place only once with his friend but didn't try to go into the area to where the skeletons were, because it was very rough to get into. My friend told me some very Specific directions this time and I knew almost exactly which mountain he was talking about because I had been there before without realizing how close I had been to the Heberer Lorius people.  It was an area the Old People called LAS CUEVAS.

~El Pintada Kid

The Kid's story will continue on Friday, after Thursday's Skywatch post